Boys and Guns

Boys like guns. It might be the loud report and smell of burning gunpowder, or the ability to shatter clay pigeons flying through the air, or possibly it's that guns are tools that demand a great deal of respect. For me, it's probably a combination of all these things and more.

As a kid, I was always jealous that my brother had a BB gun, and I would frequently ask to borrow it.  I ended up shooting it more than he did and would invite my friends over to shoot aluminum cans and targets taped to stacks of newspapers.  My parents wisely laid out rules for our use of the BB gun so that we would develop safe gun handling habits.  Later in Boy Scouts, I was exposed to rifle and shotgun shooting.  This presented new challenges, with moving targets and targets at much greater distances.  Naturally, I moved on to hand guns after this.  I later inherited my grandfather's .22 Winchester 68 from my uncle and began to learn about proper gun cleaning and maintenance.

I'm not a gun expert by any means, nor do I own many firearms or go shooting often, but I enjoy the hobby and am always willing to learn to shoot guns I'm less familiar with.  Firearms might seem dangerous, and indeed they can be if mistreated, but by exercising proper safety, shooting can be enjoyed by anyone.